Reliability seems to be a key metric that is missing. Without reliability, any other feature is pointless. “Hey, I’ve got this really secure, convenient, and efficient monitoring device. It’s a coin flip as to whether or not it works, but you’ll love it…”

Out of the choices, Convenience / Automation is #1 for this particular use case for me. Security is only #2 because I have other systems I will rely upon until this or another system can provide rock solid security. Security is really #1, just provided for elsewhere.

Reliability and cost are critical selection factors, but it looks like yonomi was inquiring about primary function, that is, the problem you’re usually trying to solve with Home automation, not characteristics of the solution. It’s just not a very well-worded survey, but I think their meaning was clear.

Looking just at the primary functions, I would have worded it as “energy efficiency or other cost savings” as sometimes the savings come from water savings or some other resources. Although maybe that needs to be split into “energy efficiency” and “Other cost savings” as some people just want energy efficiency in order to be green.

And I know it’s an edge case, but for me the primary function for my home automation purchases is “accessibility and independence.” That’s not quite the same thing as convenience, and it represents a large market for these kind of devices.

Also, I agree with @bamarayne: cool factor is a primary function for a lot of HA purchases.

Also I like the idea of having percentages that @jh1 mentioned. Again, in my case, I’d say 90% of my purchases are for accessibility, and 10% are cool factor. The other categories happen, but they aren’t the reason why I buy the devices, because my budget isn’t that big.

If the replies so far prove anything at all, it’s that there will likely be as many varied responses as there are respondents

As an example: I don’t see how you can state that the application is different from the cost. Because frankly, whether you choose to ‘solve’ a previously nonexistent problem often depends on the Cost!!
The first use case for me was that the wife wanted to be able to go out for a walk/run without being encumbered by keys. If the solution to that was an $800 lock, she would still be walking/running around the neighborhood with keys in her pocket! But the cost was $169, so I got the keyless smart lock. And had that not occurred, none of my subsequent automations would have occurred.

Another example is form factor. I was mucking around with voice controls in Android even as the first Echo devices rolled out. But I would never have considered moving to Alexa had it not been for the advent of the $40 Dot, that can be stuck to any wall or ceiling.

In other words, application is, in many cases, utterly dependent on cost or form factor or command protocol or any number of myriad conditions without which one would not even consider some potential application.

Both affect whether you eventually choose a specific device or not, but from an engineering or marketing standpoint, they are two distinct questions. As one of my engineering professors used to put it, the first category is the “why” and the second category is the “how.”

Security is the least important for me because I don’t trust SmartThings to be reliable anyway and have an actual security system that IS very reliable to handle those duties. So, of the choices, convenience wins. for me